Struggle in Soviet Russia

(One update today, resume tomorrow)

Kizhi Island.

As dusk approached, a light rain hit without warning. The sun was shining just a moment ago, and the rustling raindrops fell like fog the next moment. The sudden drop in temperature brought a vision to this small island that is not very large. , the thin mist evaporated from the lake around the island and quickly spread to the entire Lake Onega, and Kizhi Island was naturally not spared.

On the **** of the lawn in front of the Transfiguration Cathedral, Victor was still walking alone on the half-yellow grass, holding an umbrella, but with a slightly thicker woolen coat on his back.

Along the winding road leading to the pier, a gray sedan slowly approached as night fell. Victor, who had just lit a cigarette, stopped and stood on the side of the road and looked in the direction of the vehicle. .

The car seemed to come slowly, but it quickly drove to Victor's side. When the car stopped, a young man jumped out of the cab first. He ran quickly to the back and opened an umbrella first. Only then did the rear door open, and a young man who looked at most in his early thirties was greeted from the car.

Seeing the young man get out of the car, Viktor smiled, threw the cigarette in his right hand, took two steps forward, stretched out his hand to the other side, and said, "Hello, Comrade Yuri Vladimirovich , is the journey going smoothly?"

The person who came was Viktor's nominal assistant, Andropov, the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Karelian-Finnish Soviet Republic, a promising young cadre who was not in good health.

According to the normal historical process, Comrade Andropov should still be the first secretary of the Municipal Party Committee in Petrozavodsk at this time, and then he will not be officially promoted until after the completion of his training to take the position he is currently in. However, Viktor's previous decision brought his promotion forward by two years, allowing him to be parachuted directly to the post of Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Republic.

Before that, Andropov's appointment document was issued earlier than Viktor, so he came to Karelia a little earlier, so his division of work was actually arranged by the previous secretary, Specifically, he was in charge of propaganda and agitation and organization. This was mainly because he had worked extensively in the Communist Youth League before, so he arranged it this way.

For now, Victor has not started to adjust his work after taking office. One is that he does not want to touch the interests of the local faction, and the other is that he still lacks understanding of the situation. Even if he adjusts work and mobilizes personnel, he does not know what to reuse. man, belittle someone. Of course, the most important thing is that he has not really controlled the overall situation. Even if he proposes to make adjustments, his plan is likely to be blocked by others. In the end, not only will it fail, but he may also lose his prestige. 's fate.

Now, with the conclusion of a working meeting, Viktor has opened up some situations to a certain extent. At least, he has reached a certain compromise with Comrade Kusinen. Although Comrade Kusinen did not express his opinion clearly, his The implication is already clear, that he is willing to support Victor's work, but only if Victor also supports his work in some way.

However, with Tawajawi's speech at the work conference, Victor had a new year, and he was going to criticize the issue of nationalization of party members and cadres. If nothing else, he was here. The position of the party will inevitably arouse the disgust of Comrade Kuxining to a certain extent. Taking a ten thousand steps back, he said that even if Comrade Kuxining has no opinion, those around him will definitely have opinions, and many times, a The leader of the group is not able to decide everything. He must also consider the opinions and attitudes of the whole group.

All in all, Viktor must be mentally prepared that he will be isolated by the Karelian localist political forces because of his criticism of the "nationalization of party members and cadres", even in the whole of Karelia-Finland. Isolated within the Communist Party.

But having said that, the reason why Victor insisted on speaking out on this issue despite Sophia's objection, on the one hand, was really out of a sense of mission, on the other hand, it was actually a political gamble.

It's kind of funny that a few years ago, when Victor was just reborn into this world, he actually had no position on ideology, not even on the concept of homeland, because he didn't think He belongs to this time and space. At that time, his only thought was to live, to live as comfortably as possible.

But a few years have passed. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve lived here for too long or because I’ve been promoted too quickly. Victor’s thoughts are slowly changing. Now, when he’s thinking about many issues, he’s already With a position, with an ideology and a position in the country, or in other words, he is moving in the direction of a real Bolshevik party member. When thinking about problems, I also began to really have the mind of serving the country, and also began to have ideas and positions that pay attention to principles.

As for the political gambling aspect, there is actually nothing to say. As mentioned before, in the series of historical issues of the alliance, the ethnic issue is definitely a very important issue that has always been discussed. How to effectively deal with it? On this point of the national issue, there are also various views and positions within the alliance. Of course, the dominant position is the idea of ​​national self-determination and autonomy advocated by Comrade Lenin.

However, it must be recognized that although Comrade Stalin's position on the national issue is similar to that of Comrade Lenin, even a more radical position on national self-determination and autonomy, the source of his theory is based on the history before and after the October Revolution. The background, and with the evolution of the times, the alliance today is no longer the alliance that faced a series of internal and external troubles and urgently needed to unite all domestic forces. As the so-called "time changes, the world changes", since the social environment and background are different, shouldn't everyone also make some changes in their views on the same issue?

If Victor can put forward such a new point of view, and it is recognized by the mainstream, it is obviously a very beautiful highlight for his personal resume.

"Hello, Comrade Viktor Viktorovich," shaking hands with Viktor, Andropov looked around and said, "After working in Karelia for nearly five years, this is the first time in Kizhi. When I came to the island, I didn’t expect the environment here to be really good.”

"It's better when it's sunny," Victor said with a gesture of invitation in the direction of the church, "Let's go and talk inside."

Andropov nodded and followed him down the path leading to the church.

From the location of the two to the entrance of the Transfiguration Cathedral, there was a distance of two or three hundred meters. The two walked all the way, and there was no communication along the way, as if they were thinking about something until they reached the church. When it was under the rain canopy at the entrance of the main entrance, Viktor put away the umbrella, put it aside, took out a folded letter from his pocket, handed it to Andropov, and said, "Look at it. , the news I just got half an hour ago, an exciting good news."

Andropov didn't pick up the letterhead directly. He looked at Victor in amazement and saw a faint smile on his face, so he reached out and picked up the letterhead.

Although Andropov was able to take over as the second secretary of the Karelian-Finnish Soviet Republic, it can be said that he directly benefited from Victor's recommendation, but in actual work, Andropov was not completely in the position of On Victor's side, he has his own position and political interests.

This is not difficult to understand. Although Andropov was recommended by Victor and is also Victor's deputy in name, he is not a vassal of Victor, and Victor cannot expect to treat the other party as his vassal.

Today, the work in charge of Andropov includes propaganda and agitation, and Viktor’s article needs to be reviewed by Andropov if he wants to be published in the Karelian Izvestia. . Regarding the issue of that article, Viktor had previously communicated with Andropov, who took a similar position as Sofia. He did not support Viktor taking things related to ethnic issues to the newspaper for discussion, thinking that it might cause problems. Confusion at the level of the Republican Party members.

Just under the rain canopy at the entrance of the church, Andropov unfolded the folded letterhead, glanced at it, and couldn't help but stop. He swallowed, looked up at Victor, then looked down at the contents of the letterhead, and then said, "When did you hear the news?"

When he asked this question, he realized that Victor had already said it before, and the news was only received half an hour ago, so he changed his mind and asked, "Will we succeed?"

Victor didn't answer, he touched his pocket, took out half a pack of cigarettes, took one and handed it to the other party, and then looked at the watch in his hand, and then said: "Wait another hour to determine the result, now we Just pray."

Andropov took the cigarette, lit it, took a deep breath, and said, "If this experiment can be successful, many issues may need to be reconsidered."

After a pause, he added: "Including the decisions we made at previous meetings, we may have to overturn and start over."

Victor nodded with a smile, and said, "That's why I invited you over. I think we need to revisit some issues."

Andropov looked down at the letterhead in his hand again, and finally nodded to Victor, expressing his acceptance of the other party's proposal.